From what I was told, and I may not have all the details exactly right, is that during the 70s when Jopliniana struck the nation, she wanted to get the opera out as quickly as possible. Understandable.

However, others were vying to record Treemonisha to cash in on Joplkin's new popularity. Lawrence hired a black music professor--shit, I can't recall his name at the moment--to conduct and arrange the music. But she also had Gunther Schuller doing the same thing independently. Then to prevent anyone from getting another version of Treemonisha out before her, she went to court and somehow got everyone else banned from recording and distributing their own versions of the opera.

Then she promptly got into all sorts of trouble for having 2 people arranging and preparing to conduct Treemonisha. A bunch of people that were brought together to work on the projects became good friends. When the war started, they were forced to take sides. Most opted to do what was best for the opera itself, but that's all relative, and that tore many of the friendships apart.

By the time she got it sorted out, the Joplin craze had burned out as was inevitable. Schuller got the nod and his version was recorded. It is extremely good, but it shouldn't be the only version available. I feel cheated not being able to buy as many versions as labels can make. I'd eagerly buy them all.

Think of all the different singers that would do Treemonisha. It could have been a great vehicle for black talent to get noticed. A movie version would have been made. There would Scott Joplin scolarships for musically gifted black students, it would introduce more blacks to classical music and more whites to black folk music traditions which whites generally have no idea how much they are musically indebted to. Joplin would be more in most people's minds than that guy that wrote quaint piano ditties that got used in "The Sting". Recently, I played it for two coworkers who were surprised that Joplin was black. They had always thought he was white!!

Basically, Vera Brodsky Lawrence ruined any chance of that. I didn't know she was dead although it explains why my sources kept using the past tense.